Paul Petch

Lifes a beach

I headed off this afternoon on the scooter to have a bit of an explore of the beaches towards Taylors Mistake/ Godley Head. I’ve ridden many times into this secluded beach/ town from the Porthills, but In the 2.5yrs years that I’ve been here, I’ve never had a look around on foot. Dodging traffic on the way I called into the main (and most popular) beach at Sumner and just laid reading a magazine while soaking up some UV for an hour or so.  After enough sun I zipped up and around the coast to Taylors Mistake which was heaps of fun on the new scooter, and so much easier to find a park once I arrived too :) I strolled barefoot along the beach and ignored the signage for the walkway and then hopped over rocks along the coast line instead. I’ve always had a fascination with rock hopping on the coast ever since I first arrived in Australia and in particular Walkerville, where we used to stay very often at a family retreat. Anyway, the rocks were quite sharp and slippery so I had to slow down and take due care not to injure myself further this season- but it’s great having to choose the best line through the rocks isn’t it? :)

The crashing ocean, blue sky and sea breezes were just mesmerizing today as I clambered along and around the jagged coastline. At several spots I stopped to capture (or attempt to) massive waves as they hit the rocks. What a hell of a way to spend an afternoon! And with Summer coming so late this year- it is also a relief to be able to get out and enjoy some of the highlights that Christchurch offers! I eventually came to a sheer rock face that I pondered at- should I climb up or not? I decided that I’d give it a go anyway- and half way up the rock started to crumble under my foot and I saw sense and headed back down. It was at this point that I remembered that I have no skills to climb up stuff, never mind down it! And nervously- I clambered down to some kind of solid ground again. What a muppet :/

At one point I flicked off my runners to wade out and stand in the crashing waves which was totally magical. I’m not an “ocean person” at all- but I do love the sound and actions of the waves on the shore line. It’s just beautiful. When I returned to my runners I found that there were now just one- and after calling my self an idiot- I noticed that it had been carried up the shore and was sitting not far from the other in the rocks. Phew….how much fun would swimming out to find it have been? NOT! I even captured it on film…to remind me that I am special :)

Once back at the walkway signage I opted to take a bit of a stroll and headed up to be greeted by a really cool bench over looking the beach where I sat for a while to gather my thoughts. It’s a hard life isn’t it? What was cool about this wee seat was a metal hook embedded into the stone work with a picture of our best friend :) There was even a hole in the concrete base just for filling with water for your weary pal. I just love these kind of touches- they seem to make an average bench one to remember….just like the one on the Rapaki track that reads “Rest and be thankful”. Nice.

I could see that the track lead around close to the cliff edge or a safer trail heading up towards a view point. I also noticed that the first track pretty much took me past where I had become unstuck earlier so I took this trail to check it out from a better vantage point. Once I got to this spot the trail just kept going so I walked and filmed….which is an art in itself! At the end of this track I discovered some fabulous views of the ocean and even more stunning inlets heading towards Godley Head. I could have gone on- but I’ve been trail running/ walking a fair bit this week so I was sensible and headed back home why there was a bit of the heat of the day left to keep me company. What a beautiful spot and trail it is….and I’ll be back soon to run it for sure. We are truly spoilt here in Christchurch- we really are.

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Related posts:

1. Richard’s visit. Ride five. Port Hills to Taylors Mistake
2. Crater Rim ride at Port Hills
3. I’m a junkie
4. Craig is back!
5. Mountain biking at the Croesus Track – Easter 2009 Part 1

This entry was posted on Friday, February 5th, 2010 at 5:06 am and is filed under Places & Travel and tagged with beach, christchurch, daelim bonita, godley head, scooter, sumner, taylors mistake, trail walking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.